Search giant Google on Tuesday pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make renewable energy cheaper than coal.

The effort, dubbed RE<C (shorthand for "renewable energy less than coal"), calls for Google to invest in companies developing clean-energy technologies and for Google itself to next year invest tens of millions in research and development in renewable energy.

Technologies created by Google will likely be used by Google, whose data centers are voracious consumers of electricity. The company envisions either selling electricity from renewable sources or licensing technology on terms that would promote broad adoption, according to company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Its overarching goal is to produce 1 gigawatt of electricity from renewable sources--enough to power the city of San Francisco--faster than the current pace of green-technology development.

"The main crux of this is that we believe that you can do it cheaper than coal...and we want to make it happen now," said Page, Google's president of products. "Most people who are doing this now are trying to do it less expensive than people before, but they are not trying for that goal which will have a significant effect on the world."

Investments in other companies will be funded by Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org, which has about $2 billion worth of Google stock available to it.

In particular, Google will be investing in solar-thermal technology, wind power, and geothermal systems. Its target is to fall below the price of coal power generation, which can be as low as 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, said Bill Weihl, Google's green-energy czar.

Google said it's already working with eSolar, a solar-thermal company building systems for utilities to generate electricity from heat. It has invested in Makani Power, which is pursuing electricity generation by harnessing wind at high altitudes.

As part of the effort, Google will be hiring experts in the energy field. It expects to hire 20 to 30 people into its clean-energy division in the next year. More substantial investments will come as energy projects come online, Weihl said.

Although an ambitious plan, Google's impact on the clean-tech market segment in the near term is likely to be more psychological than financial, said Paul Clegg, a senior equity analyst who follows clean tech at Jefferies.

"Tens of millions of dollars is not a small number, obviously, but you're spreading that over things that a lot of other companies are attacking on an individual basis with more money going at it," Clegg said. "I think they'd have to invest a lot more money to get the next Manhattan Project going."

However, Google's initiative is significant in that it could indicate how corporations will start addressing their energy needs and climate change going forward, he said.

A strategic move
The push to mitigate the effects of climate change through clean energy falls squarely into Google.org's missions to improve human health and alleviate poverty, said Larry Brilliant, the executive director of Google.org.

Its foray into the energy business is part of Google's corporate charter to expand into new business areas that are "strategic," according to Brin.

As a large consumer, Google can benefit from cheaper sources of electricity and technologies it successfully develops could generate revenue, he said. In addition, those technologies could potentially bring cheaper sources of electricity to areas of the world that don't have it.

"For economic development to be possible in these areas and for new industries to be spurred along, we want to develop cheap alternatives that are widely available," Brin said. "This isn't just about solving a problem. It also creates a gigantic opportunity."

Google will be our God if they can turn on the byte into electric. Then deliver it as they have now like search engine..I know from Negroponte that byte is a non "power" atom. But, one never know if Google could make any breakthrough..In Indonesia some believe energy can be sent like voodoo.

Google being the leader in Search Technology could also be leader in Energy Technology Innovation to spearhead the Change needed to save our planet from Global Warming Disasters.

History had proven that owing to selfish gains and big business interests and the many Government interventions the "Free Energy Inventions &#38; Innovations" for the good of mankind were suppressed by vested interests such as the life works of Nikola Tesla and the strategic others were even kept classified by the US Government after his death until the present day. 100 years has been lost and that now our planet earth is placed under the stress of Global Warming owing to the unlimited use of Fossil Oils and Fossil Fuels which in the first place was not needed if the Inventions of the Greatest Inventor, Nikola Tesla were not suppressed 100 years ago. If the Governments of the Nations of World are not going to make and initiate the required changes to stop the continuing use of fossil oils and fuels with alternative fuel someone without vested interests in the Fossil Fuel Industries has got to take the great Initiative to bring out the best technology to save our planet from impending doom. Google being the popular leader in innovative search technology has chosen to lead in this field with its deep pockets, there is now a even match to fight the much resistance from the vested interests that is now controlling the Fossil Oils and Fossil Fuels.

The best inventions of the Greatest Inventor like Nikola Tesla were suppressed 100 years ago, but under present day scenarios, the works of Great Inventors like Stan Meyers were suppressed as he had been murdered and many others like him were also murdered. Instead of getting support in the scientific community he was ostracized and so as others like him.

To develop the best alternative power/energy the only way is to get a strong Company to be the protector of Inventors and to cooperate to get the best of technology to be developed into marketable products jointly.

Otherwise, we will be seeing more murders of great Inventors and more suppression and in the end this planet earth will be doom &#38; so polluted beyond imagination and eventually we can't survive and die of suffocation and with Global Warming causing unprecedented natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and tsunamis and earthquakes and other disasters.

Therefore someone without vested interests must come forward to lead in this matter of creating the best alternative energy sources for the good of mankind to follow the footsteps of Nikola Tesla to share his inventions for the good of all mankind. Be it free energy by Coils tapping free energy from the Magnetics Poles of the Earth, Cold Fusion or Magnetic Engines or splitting of Water through electrolysis process on demand basis to produce Brown Gas or HHO to run the present day Vehicles' Internal Combustion Engines without modifications then why not to cut the pollutions from the use of fossil oils and fuels.

This leader without vested interests in fossil fuels could well be Google with deep pockets to match the vested interests who would always be a formidable resistances to change owing to deep seated vested self interests.

Therefore, it is correct that someone strong financially should step forward to lead and also protect the lives and works of the Inventors from the vested interests to fully develop the best alternative technology to produce energy and not to suppress any such inventions.

We hope that the motto of Google will still be applicable in this regard to "Do No Evil".

YOU NEED ANOTHER NIKOLA TESLA INCARNATION TO RE-INVENT ALTERNATIVE POWER GENERATION WHICH INDEED HE DID HAVE DONE THIS ONE CENTURY AGO TO ACHIEVE GOOGLE'S GOALS TO PRODUCE POWER/ENERGY FOSSIL FUEL FREE BUT THIS HAS BEEN SUPPRESSED BY OTHERS WITH SELFISH INTERESTS. TO RESURRECT THE GREATEST INVENTOR'S LIFE WORKS OF PRODUCING AND SHARING FREE ALTERNATIVE POWER /ENERGY YOU NEED TO GET THE DECLASSIFICATION FROM THE FUTURE AMERICAN PRESIDENT IN ORDER TO RETRIEVE HIS GREATEST LIFE WORKS WHICH HAD BEEN CLASSIFIED "TOP SECRET" IMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS DEATH, THEREFORE, IT IS HIGH TIME SOME GOOD INITIATIVE IS TAKEN TO RESURRECT HIS GOOD WORKS AND PUT THEM TO GOOD USE TO SAVE THE FUTURE GENERATIONS FROM DISASTERS IN ADVERSED CLIMATIC CHANGES CAUSED AS THE RESULT OF GLOBAL WARMING WHICH IS CAUSED BY THE UNLIMITED USE OF FOSSIL OILS AND FUELS TO GENERATE POWER/ENERGY. SINCE IT IS PROBABLE THAT YOU CANNOT FIND A GREAT INVENTOR IN THIS CENTURY AS GREAT AS NIKOLA TESLA, BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE STAN MEYERS AND OTHERS AS GOOD AS STAN MEYERS WERE ALSO MURDERED TO SUPPRESS THE VERY TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO PRODUCE ALTERNATIVE POWERS/ ENERGY SOURCES. IT IS NECESSARY TO PROTECT THE PRESENT &#38; FUTURE INVENTORS ON SUFFERING THE SAME FATE, THEREFORE GOOGLE MUST TAKE THE LEAD TO PROTECT AND WORK WITH THIS PRESENT &#38; FUTURE GENERATION OF INVENTORS TO ACHIEVE THE BEST TECHNOLOGY POSSIBLE IN ALTERNATIVE POWER/ENERGY GENERATION/PRODUCTION.

As solar technology steadily improves, and as stimulus money gets channeled into the green power industry, soon a significant percentage of power will come from individuals and small power farms. Hard to imagine now? Sound greenwashed? Solar panels already pay for themselves after just a few years. In ten years crowdsourced power will be a completely new market and Google (as usual) is putting themselves in the position to be the manager of that market. This is big stuff.More: http://thinksketch.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/google-begins-infiltration-of-energy-market-for-good-or-for-awesome/-ThinkSketch

Like the idea of free and clean solar power but hate the thought of ugly, black panels covering the roof of your home? Help is on the way.

Scientists in Georgia and New Jersey are taking solar panels off the roofs of homes and cars, and moving them into basements and walls. The new panels could unobtrusively provide solar power while simultaneously protecting the delicate photovoltaics.

"No one wants to buy a big, nice, fancy car with a huge solar panel on the roof," said Zhong Wang, a scientist at Georgia Tech designing what he calls the world's first 3-D solar panel system.

Instead of using traditional solar panels, the Georgia Tech scientists will capture sunlight and turn it into electricity using fiber optics cables coated with zinc oxide, the same white compound lifeguards slather on their noses.

The fiber optic cables, each one two to three times the width of a human, would be installed on the roof of a house, car or any other structure.

Only the very tip of the cables would be exposed to the outside environment.

Light enters the tip of the fiber and travels to the end. The light is absorbed and turned into electrical energy along the way.

Once the light reaches the end of the fiber, it actually bounces back, giving the zinc oxide another chance to absorb any light missed during the first pass.

The fibers can be cut to any length depending on the needs of the user. A 10-centimeter (four-inch) fiber would conservatively generate about 0.5 volts.

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